Category Archives: Events

Marin’s always been known as some sort of Zen drift character that people can’t get enough of. Ever since his killer 2012 CSCS season, where he literally cleaned up the competition, he’s made quite the name for himself. Not many have pushed the sport in Ontario as much as he does and has in the past. Saying goodbye to his not-so-trusty SR and going to a LS turbo is a huge change for him, so we dropped by to ask him a few questions about it.

MARIN:

Devo: Why LS Turbo?Marin: Want my honest answer? Because I wanted a 1 or 2j but I happened upon an engine in a shed covered in mud at my work and they let me have it for free. I had to turbo it because of the sponsorship and yeah. I’m sick of blowing up fucking SRs.

Devo: How man SRs have you been through?Marin: Right now i have three completely dead blocks and three fucked up heads. All different; I screwed up a lot of shit. Even if I tried combining the three, I can’t put together a full motor. There was always something wrong when I had an SR. If its not one thing, its another.Devo: What are you doing visually to your car for next year? Your cars probably been three different colors in the last two years.Marin: Right now I’m trying to mix every race car into one; I want it to look like a NASCAR, a group B car and a touring car. I just want to look different from everyone else. I dont see why it has to look like a traditional ‘drift car’. Why should a drift car look a certain way? I want it to look aggressive as fuck with wings and fins everywhere.

Devo: What are your hopes for this season?Marin: I want to place top 3 in US drift or qualify for FD Canada and win my FD license. I’d like to do an FD event by next year. I want to get into pro 1 and fuck up Aasbo’s door or something. That would be cool.Devo: Do you ever look back and reminisce about how far you’ve come as a driver?Marin: I guess, I don’t know. Yeah, when I think about it for a while it gets weird. I don’t know, I started this a while ago. I never ever imagined driving a car like this before. I never thought about having a V8 before, never mind V8 with a giant Garrett turbo. What’s fascinated me more than anything else is the sport; the sport has changed so much since I started, and that’s harder to accept and adapt to that than anything else. The thousand horsepower thing is pretty crazy.

MITCH:

There’s always a story about Mitch. Everyone who knows him has a wild story about some crazy shit he’s done on a dirt bike, or in his car. I first met Mitch in high school when he had a straight piped Genesis on cut lowering springs. Back then he also had a tubed 5.0 Litre E30 race car that he built himself. After writing off both cars, he took a break from drifting and spent time on other ventures (dirtbiking, women etc). This year though, we managed to get him back into it. After working with Mike for a while and a pretty cool two day event (that famously was cut short when he met the wall), he decided to take some time to do more fabricating for his pals, which eventually led to the creation of Mitchy’s Speed Shop. I ventured over to the cold north to see whats up.

Devo: Most kids get into drifting with old BMWs or shitty Nissans…How did you end up with a 2011 Genesis as a drift car??Mitch: Bought it with money I got from selling coke.

Devo: For cereals?
Mitch: Oh for real. I had an FC Rx7 that I was planning to build as a drift car. Eventually I ended up acquiring one as a daily driver and after a track day with it (the FC) and a few weeks of driving the car on the streets I realized it was uncomfortable and too small for me; so I got rid of it and decided to go after a bigger chassis. I was after a gs300/400 as a new chassis when I came across this Genesis. It had 30000 km, was all original and was at a price that I just couldn’t pass up. So I jumped on it, stoked on having an absolutely rust free practically brand new chassis.Devo: That’s sweet. how does it drive? what are your plans for it in the future.MITCH: I stripped it, welded the diff and went out to drive TOPP Drift Hallowbash with it. Remarkably, it worked very well and felt very peppy for such a big car I felt right at home in it (till I got a little close too the wall haha) Next year I’m planning on keeping the factory 2.0L Turbo motor and Transmission. The chassis will be completely caged, and since it’s such a new car there’s not many choices on angle/handling products so I will be working on developing and designing some suspension products for some better handling and extreme angle next year

Devo: How is Mitchys Speed Shop coming along? What are some challenges you face in making cages and stuff for cars?Mitch: It’s going very well! I’m super busy and am booked up for a few months. It was really fun being able to do an all out cage for Steve that he’s going too be travelling around with very often and showing off all around the States!

DEVO:

Gill: Devo what have you done since the last season?Devo: I noticed a ton of issues with the car last season, the most prominent being worn bushings. Daily driving a car with shot bushings really sucks, and at one point it was so bad that I could kick the back wheel and it would move. So I focused mostly on doing that, just solid bushings and new multilink all around to just tighten the chassis up. I dont really want more power, I dont see a need for it yet. I put a 248 cam in mostly for the cool Idle hahaha

Gill: How long have you wanted to drift?Devo: Honestly, when i first heard of drifting back in year 2000 when i was six years old, I thought it was the stupidest sport ever. I totally thought it was the most backwards waste of tire and resources to ever happen to anything, and thought sliding around a corner was wrong. As cliche as it sounds, It wasn’t until 2003 when I saw Fast and Furious 3 Tokyo Drift in theatres that I got stoked on it. I became obsessed after that; I remember I used to save up pennies and buy Modified Mag and other tuner magazines to read about cool drivers like Samuel Hubinette and drivers alikeGill: Why an S14?Devo: It’s a pretty sentimental car to me actually, I’ve always loved S14s. I remember when I was 6, walking to my aunts house and I happened across a Zenki S14 and I fell in love. I’m not really sure why, It’s a super hideous car; but I guess that’s where the beauty is. The owner let me sit in it, run through the gears and rev it and shit. I don’t know why he was so cool about it, but I fell in love with the car. Its my earliest memory of being around a true sports car, and from then on I decided that I needed to own one. I made it a personal goal to have one before I was 20. Its contradictory, almost paradoxical but I don’t know, I just love these ugly ass cars.

Gill: What are your goals and ambitions for next season?Devo: I would like to get good at it but its just a for fun thing. Personally i think once you get to a certain level, it sucks the fun out of it. Competing doesn’t seem fun to me, it just seems like a ton of stress and financial pain. And I am not about that shit.Gill: What advice do you have for someone who wants to get into drifting?Devo: Just do it. Everyone can come up with a bag of excuses as to why they can’t, but if I could get it done on 12 hours a week at Starbucks, anyone can. The sport is too fun to sit on the sidelines.

You’ve just done your first drift day. You’ve had a great day and spent a lot of time setting up a mild tune in your early-mid 90s Nissan, Toyota, BMW or whatever. You got yourself some good-ass coilovers, some extra wheels, a track oriented alignment and a bunch of tires with similar compounds–the whatever’s free or cheap compound. Engine mods are minimal because you want to learn how to move the weight of the car; you’re doing everything right. Learning how the track and your modestly setup car fit together. You start to get a hang of the racing line, braking zones, and even ramped up some cool entry speeds in there. At the end of the day, your car is one piece (mostly), you’re looking at several tires you’ve just murdered, you can’t get the shit-eating grin off your face, and you’re hooked. You’ve just completed your first successful drift day.

The next logical step would be to continue to drive this car and replace parts as they break, or as they need to be upgraded. E.g “My car rolls too much around that corner. I am going to do some research and possibly buy sway bars to prevent body roll.” Doing this after every track experience is bound to create a nicely balanced track setup. Unfortunately, here is where a lot of new drivers get confused – Maybe its the product of constantly searching and reading epic builds, telling tales of unheard of engine swaps, and tubes; maybe they just like fabrication and problem solving- nonetheless, said driver will now take his or her car off the road to “build” it. In theory and with moderation, there is nothing wrong with that; after all, in places like Ontario we get five months of winter to build our daily/track toys. This can be a benefit as it gives us the opportunity to completely rip a car apart and worry about putting it back together later on–we can pick away at it. During this time, it would be appropriate to tie up some ends that went loose at the end of the season. Things like worn ball joints, brakes, bent inner/outer tie rod ends, replacing multilinks, and bushings are all things that are usually addressed; especially in a beginner’s track toy.

What I have been noticing more and more, though, are beginners who have driven one or two track days (if that) and then proceeding to take their cars off the road for ‘pro-like builds’. People driving one or two drift days, getting the hang of it, and instantly getting a roll cage, truck and trailer and pulling the car’s plates for tubs and a crazy swap with a huge turbo (or LS v8). They skip the whole process. They will usually document it, showing off to all their peers about their fully customized powder coated and reinforced sub frames, decked out with SPL and PBM parts (or another manufacturers equivalent), stating they only spend money on the best of the best- doing it right.

I haven’t been around drifting much, but what I noticed even before I got my car was the consumerism of the build has started to take away from the actual driving experience. It has gotten to a point where people who have never even driven at a track are going around buying rolling shell 240s and spending all of their time and money building a complete monster that drivers with more experience would have trouble actually driving to its full potential; this is wrong. This is not how you enjoy a car. This is however, a great way to ruin a lot of hard work.

Personally, there is no time I resent my car more than when I am working on it. There is no enjoyment in ruining whatever clothes you are wearing, working on the ground of a cold-as-balls garage (if you’re even privileged enough to have access to one) to install a set of rear upper control arms or something like that. I only ever do stuff like that because I need to upgrade or replace it, and as I said earlier that’s the way it should be: If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. A car should be upgraded as a driver grows. A driver that is more advanced than a car is always cooler to watch than a car that is more advanced than the driver. There needs to be a seat-time to build-time ratio taken into consideration when taking up these projects. A car owner will never have as much fun building a car than they will beating the hell out of it. Cars are meant to be driven. #drivingnotbuilding

We look back at some of our fondest memories of 2014 (in no particular order). This year has been a bit of a lull for us. A few of us moved further apart, new jobs, new cars, we just didn’t have our coverage up to par from years past. We’ve made a few changes to get coverage quality up next year. We did however hand out a few of our custom made awards. It is very satisfying presenting awards at some of the biggest modified car event sin Canada. As a social tool, we’ve used the site to garner new friends, and cement the relationships with friends we have in place already. In that regard it has been our most successful year to date. What’s the point of bolstering social media likes when you know none of these people where it matters? ..in person. We look forward to further relationships with the people at Fitted Lifestyle, Eurokracy, Airsociety, Stanceiseverything, Ivy League East, Broadway Static, and Seven Automotive. I sincerely apologize to anyone I forgot.

Our year started off by watching Steve and company slay some tires at TOPP Drift. The crowd on the wall, gets VERY involved.LINK.

We’ve been great friends with the boys over at FITTED Lifestyle since their second ever event 4-5 years ago. Their event is more or less the season opener in Toronto, as well as being its biggest and IMO the best. Its where most of the top tuner/show/stance cars come out of the winter sheds. It was extra special for us, as we were able to present Richard with our Favourite Ride Award. Its the first time we’ve handed out an award of our own at a big event.

More friends and awards at Eurokracy. I may have botched my time with the mic at the Eurokracy award ceremony but just being up there was more than we’d ever expected. The event is at a scale that is very hard to imagine. There are so many cars,that walking around to see all of them was a tough ask. Getting to the event is an adventure on its own. As our Kruise was in full effect this year.

Getting rid of the Subaru meant I needed new suspension on the BMW, and also Mauncho’s E36. We called upon Broadway Static for some help. So far its been a great 3-4 months, with many more months ahead. Hopefully next years update will include some RSs for me and Modenas for Mauncho.LINK.

My first Lowrider show, was an eye opener. The stance scene isn’t really know for its extensive builds. While the tuner scene has some thorough builds, few if any are as comprehensive. Polished suspension and engine components, engraved sub frames, metallic pinstripe paint jobs, etc. I can’t think of any other car subculture that spends more effort into looking good.Majestics BBQ.

I was lucky enough to make it out to a handfull of CSCS events. No other local event combines show and shines, judged showing, time attack, and drifting into one big experience. The sound of 500+hp Imprezas and sideways E30s make the blistering heat more bearable. Looking forward to more on track action in 2015.LINK.

Who knew, we’d be a part of the inaugural Pfaff Tuning Show and Shine? Matt asked us to create a custom award for the show, which we kindly obliged. Geoff and Mauricio both had their cars in the show so it was decided the best option was to leave the judging to the staff at Pfaff as I’d be biased towards their cars. Fortunately for Mauricio, they felt his car was best in show anyways.Pfaff Tuning via Geoff.Pfaff Tuning via Gill

Another staple in our year is Vagkraft. You can’t have a crew of mostly VWs without going to VK. Having moved to Brampton this year, the trek to VK was a short 10 mins. If you’re a local VW fan, you need to be here every year.Vagkraft via Geoff.Vagkraft via Gill

Berlin Klassik. Apart from the long drive to Kitchener, BK turned out to be a very pleasurable show. I think it on the cusp of overtaking VK as the go to Euro show in Ontario. Certainly the BMW and Mercedes content overshadows that of VK.Berlin Klassik via GeoffBerlin Klassik via Gill

And the big one. Our year has always been focused around the weekend of H2Oi. The strip, the friends, the show or the time off from work add up to my favourite week of the year. Traffic definitely put a hamper on a few things but I now view H2Oi as the place I get to unwind and have a good time with friends. Be it meeting up with friends of years past or make new friends. Regardless of the shenanigans, we’ll be at H20 2015. We hope to see many of you there. Happy new years!

I can attribute the late publication of this article down to Canada’s long winter. Those in the Canadian car community are forced to endure 5-6 months of drab, bleak, and desolate winters. All of which culminate in little to no original content within those months. So I’ve saved a few photo sets from summer for these months. Berlin Klassik is up first. This is my first visit to this show. It has certainly grown since its inception a few years ago, and has quickly become one of the top 2-3 Euro shows in Ontario. The number of BMWs, Mercedes-Benzs and Porsches is higher here than anything other Ontario venue.

However, the bread and butter for Berlin Klassik is still VW. And Mauricio’s MK2 is still amungst my favourites. I’m not sure how I accomplish this at every show, but I consistantly forget to take photos of VWs. I just tend to take more photos of other brands. Luckily, Geoff was able to capture the VAG cars in Septemeber. LINK.

This Passat might be rubbing some VW purists the wrong way with its Benz wheels. As is the CRX below. The owner didn’t bother bringing it into the show grounds. It was sitting pretty in the parking lot.

Speaking of parking lot, the highlight of the show was there as well. A pristine 911 with Sparco seats and RSR bits. As well as a 997 GT3 with what might be the best vanity plate I’ve ever seen. An homage to Porsche’s reknown engine designer Hans Mezger.

Any show with 356s, 930s, 964s, 911s, 928s AND 914s is good in my books.

Stuttgart had a good showing too. I loved this bagged W210. And Manolo’s bagged W116.

And finally, Munich’s showing. As I am now a BMW owner, I’m able to appreciate these cars from more of a personal and snobbish outlook.

The last few shots from our H20i trip consists of the multitude of visitors and random cars that came by 75th. Most of whom stopped by to see Brian Arthus who seems to know everyone with a car in the U.S. Including @farklefitment.

For the first time in the 4 years I’ve been going to H2Oi I finally have some of my own photos to show off. Although all these photos took all of 15 mintues to take while we waiting for our table to eat lunch I’d say they came out pretty good. This years show was very different from the previous years. Traphouse was boycotted, the cops were towing cars on Tuesday, and the rain wouldn’t let up until Thursday. Once the rain let off everyone who had been waiting to hit the strip all week took the chance to do just that. The problem was the strip was PACKED. Cruising like we used to do 3 years ago was not an option this year. So I did what I do best, drink beer and chill with friends I get to see once or twice a year. Apart from all the bullshit with the OCMDPD and the strip being the way it was. This year was the best H2Oi I have attended yet. I got to find the real reason this event is the way it is. It’s all about friends, that you have made through the cars.

We finally got around to posting more photos from the Pfaff Tuning Show and Shine. It took place the week before H2Oi so we were all a tad pre-occupied. It was still a great show, with an array of different cars. Matt Berenz did a fantastic job of organizing the entire day. I’m certain next year’s edition will be bigger and better.

Where else would you see a MK2 Golf and an Aventador at the same lot? With Mauricio’s MK2 winning best of show no less. The Best of Show award was presented by us, however the judging was conducted by Pfaff employees. It was the best way to avoid any biased decisions.

I was told this Callaway Mk1 was very rare. We also saw the Mk1 on our way back from H2Oi. Glad to see the owner puts some good mileage on it.

If you see an Alpina Sedan in Toronto, it’s probably owned by Sia. He’s got a handful of them now. This E28 however is his s54 swapped 525i. It took home the award for Best Engine bay and was also featured in PBMW a few years back. The E39 below was the first B10 Alpina to be imported into North America. He also has another E28, and e32, e34 Alpinas in the stable. I think he has a problem.

The front of the Pfaff building was where most of the action took place. Porsche GT3, Rocket Bunny GTR and RX-7 along with a few others.

I think this was the first time I’ve seen a twin-turbo’d Gallardo. Puffs of smoke are a good thing, right?

Matt and Geoff’s Grandmother was very pleased with the show as well. Here she is checking out an R8.

Sony Canada, had a big booth for the event along with raffle prizes. I was fortunate enough to win one of those AS100 cameras. Which I immediately sold to Matt after H2O, I think he’ll get way better use out of it than I will.

PFaff Tuning also had cars displayed indoors. Including Erik’s Saab and Jimmy’s M3.

The 991 below stands as my current dream daily. Every bit as good as the 991 GT3 but with a stick shift.

As with every car show the parking lot still has some nice vehicles. Erik’s boosted Probe is a prime example.

The drive down was more eventful than I had hoped for. 2 hours in, Dan and I collectively obliterated a deer carcass. It was at that exact second I realized raising your car for the drive down is a damn good decision. I took the brunt of the deer as my bumper trim and oil level sensor can attest too. Luckily a quick pit stop had it back in place. The rest of the trip went uneventful and we arrived in OCMD on Monday evening.

They may not have the best fitment, but these two were two of the loudest cars all weekend. Apologies to the poor guy I woke up who was trying to sleep in his buddies car.

Arrive, lower it, wash it, polish it, drive it. Though later on it became waddle in traffic, instead of actual driving.

After getting our cars in check, we thought some sunset pics were in order.

Adrian was doing this more than we would have liked. Thankfully with some JB Weld, he was able to make it back home with no problems. Happy Adrian is good Adrian.

Before those sunset pics we figured hitting up Taphouse wouldn’t hurt. For a Monday evening, it was waaay busier than we have every seen it. It foreshadows the rest of the week unfortunately. This MK4 checked all the right boxes for me. Love the racekor look.

VAGKraft 2014. Every year I go to take photos. I end up taking way more photos of non VAG cars than the name would suggest. Luckily, Geoff will be able to cover the rest.

I can’t pass up a photo with a Quattro, even if its stock.

When Porsche and Audi, get into bed together. One of the best wagons of all time. the RS2.

Nothing gets me giddy like a vintage Porsche. The sights and sounds of aircooled perfection. I heard this 930 Turbo from 3-4 rows over and had to have a closer look. The 964/930 bubble is quickly expanding, prices are really inflated, hopefully I’ll be there ready in a few years to catch one once that bubble bursts.

I love the turbo arches, but the standard narrow body tickles my fancy too. Dymer’s 911 is still my favourite local P Car. It comes down to the narrow body, RS IROC (I think) bumper, t-tray wing, and dialled in stance. I can’t see anything apart from paint, that I would want to change. It really is the car I want.

From Stuttgart to Munich. Since I can’t afford a Porsche right now. Most of my current attention is swung towards BMWs. RWD, stick, and Euro. What’s not to like?

There’s more to like when its bagged. Carm’s E30, which won the BMW category.

The German Miata.

The Transporter. Alpinas are the go to wheels for the E38.

Back to Stuttgart. Mercs are just that slightly bit more luxury oriented than BMW. Probably why I don’t like them as much. If only they offered more manual options in the late 80s, early 90s. But for bombing down the autobahn, I’d choose no other.

Manolo’s 3rd place 450SEL. They look MONEY on the Schmidts. One more pic below.

If I sold drugs in the 80’s, this would be my car. W126 with a full Keonig kit.

And this would have been my “business meeting” car.

VAGKraft usually has a handful of Japanese cars. That wasn’t the case this year. I did find this Civic in the lot. More coverage soon.

CSCS, show and shine, time attack and drifting. There are no other events locally that combine these three things. As a person who’s attention span is very very limited ,the multiple aspects to the show are welcome. It’s hard not to be a fan of time attack and drifting when they are witnessed in person. Even if the cars and brands aren’t up to your fanboy code. I’m not exactly a fan of Hondas but I can watch them thrash around the track for hours.

I rolled to the show with Adrian. The lack of VWs was obvious. I still don’t understand why the VW crowd does not show up. Even the biggest of VW, rear beam fan boys, Adrian had a good time. The main reason we went was to see Steve skid in the Scraped Crusaders X Swang Bang Money Gang E30. I don’t want to stroke his ego, but for a guy that’s only been drifting on the track for less than a year, he’s doing incredibly well.

As a Subie fanboy, Riley’s Impreza ticks all the right boxes. RWD and 500hp? Yes, please.

Dylan Sharpe was killing it all day. Not surprised he was able to win. More impressive, is that he drove it home afterwards.

Kitted S13s, make me rethink me car choice constantly.

Jover’s AE before punting Steve’s car. Though, the damage to the Corolla was minimal.

Innovative Tuning had my two favourite cars of the day. Their LS3 swapped E46 M3 drift car. Purists aside, this thing is awesome.

Their Impreza time attack car was my other favourite. At 20 years old. this GC shouldn’t be as competitive as it is. Watching it slide and power its way sideways out of corners made my day.

As an amateur photographer the intricacies of camera settings still confuse me. So, the photos are limited to mostly the pit lane variety. That does allow me to get way closer to the machinery, so I’ll have to view it as a plus. Especially regarding the time attack cars. I prefer to shoot a closer view of the aero bits, allowing me to watch the racing action without bothering with photos.

Porsche 944, which the track announcer confused for a 928.

Mazda’s version of the 944, the FC….bro.

It must feel awesome when your 150hp, 1500lbs fwd Suzuki Swift is able to overtake a McLaren MP4.

I was only able to grab a few photos of the show and shine cars. A lot of the cars were too Dark Knights (old Toronto rice scene car show) for me. While I appreciate craftsmanship. I don’t appreciate the terrible taste that goes with some of them. I don’t have to like your car because you spent money on body work. Ugly is ugly.

The complete opposite of ugly is this Z.

Mike’s crazy eyed FC. Mismatched wheels never looked so good.

Veilside? Brings back memories of videos I used to download off Scour/Kazaa/Limewire. The season finale it scheduled for September 21. Unfortunately, I’ll have to miss it as we’re driving to H20i.